How the 'Deadpool' cast looks compared to their comic-book counterparts

Nicknamed the "merc with a mouth," the unhinged anti-hero and his wild sense of humor are coming to the big screen.

He's also bringing a few X-Men characters along with him.

If you're not familiar with Deadpool or his unique ability which separates him from every other character in Marvel history, don't worry. Here's everything you need to know before the movie hits theaters February 12.

Ryan Reynolds will star as Wade Wilson, the mercenary who becomes Deadpool.

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Wade Wilson is a powerful mercenary diagnosed with terminal cancer. To save himself, he becomes part of "Weapon-X," the same mysterious program that gave Wolverine his powers.

As a result, three things happen: First, his skin is disfigured horribly, making the Weapon-X scientists assume the treatments failed. The scientists took bets among each other on which of the experimental treatments would be his last, hence the name "Deadpool." They didn't realize that, despite his disfigured face, Wilson developed rapid healing, making him nearly unkillable. This makes him psychotically reckless, which is where a lot of the comic's humor came from.

The third thing, which makes Deadpool different from all other comic book characters, is that the experiment made him fully aware that he's a comic book character. He frequently addresses the reader specifically and at one point in the comics even wonders aloud about the editing software the comics creators used. No one else in Marvel shares the ability, however, and the other characters interpret this as a delusional side-effect of his experimentation.

Morena Baccarin will star alongside Reynolds as Vanessa Carlysle, also known as Copycat.

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Vanessa AKA Copycat is Deadpool's on-and-off girlfriend.

In the comics, she was born a mutant and has the ability to duplicate the appearance and powers of other mutants. So if she were to copy Storm, for example, she'd not only look like her, but she'd have Storm's powers as well. This makes Copycat extremely powerful.

For now, we're not sure how true to Copycat's comic origins the film will be. If the trailer is any indication, Wade and Vanessa will begin the film as humans and both gain their abilities later. Though we've seen Reynolds both before and after his transformation, we still don't know if Baccarin will have silver hair and skin like her comic counterpart.

We're not quite sure what's up with Angel Dust in the movie. The trailer makes her seem like a villain. She attacks Weasel and later on faces Colossus and Negasonic Warhead. Her character in the comics is much more sympathetic.

There, Angel Dust is an outcast hiding underground with other mutants. She reunites briefly with her parents, who she expected to push her away, and is surprised to find that they miss her and want her home. This doesn't seem to be where they're going with Angel Dust in the movie. But it's likely there's more to her than what we've seen.

Ed Skrein is Ajax, one of Deadpool's main rivals.

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While Deadpool was the subject of Weapon X experimentation, Ajax worked for the organization performing the experiments. Ajax was basically a jailer, making sure all of the subjects did as they were told. It's there he developed a serious rivalry with Deadpool, who mocked and taunted Ajax constantly.

We briefly saw footage of Deadpool's escape from the Weapon X facilty, so it's a safe bet that Ajax is back for revenge. In the comics, the doctor who experimented on Deadpool gave Ajax enhanced strength, speed, and durability, making him a match for Deadpool and his allies.

Colossus is nearly invulnerable and can turn his body into pure steel, shrugging off most attacks and can survive both extreme heat and extreme cold. Colossus is voiced by Serbian actor Stefan Kapičić and motion captured by Greg LaSalle.

"Giving the voice and expressions to a character is giving it a soul. It is a specific type of acting and it must be precise as it has to bring a character to life," he said. "Colossus’ voice is not much different than mine as Tim loved my natural color and range of voice, so we kept it and worked more on the Russian accent."

Comedian T.J.Miller is Weasel, Deadpool's best friend.

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Weasel is an arms dealer and hacker who provides Deadpool with weapons and information. It's slightly different from comic to comic, however. Sometimes he's a genius level information broker with a wide network of contacts and power. Sometimes he's a lowlife who sells arms and info to get by. In any case, he's always Deadpool's ally and close friend.

Brianna Hildebrand is Ellie Phimister, the Negasonic Teenage Warhead.

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Phimister's powers and back story seemed to have changed a lot during the jump from the comics to film.

In the comics, she's a young trainee working with the X-Men. Her only powers there are precognition, being able to see the future in visions and dreams. In "Deadpool," she retains her precognition but also has a momentum based ability. In the trailer, we see her charging full speed and overtaking an opponent even Colossus couldn't handle.